Tales of Jericho: The Choice
by darkproject8
Summary: After almost four years of going straight, Jericho Graves is left with no choice but to get back into what he's best at doing: Being a Shadowrunner. But getting back in the game isn't as easy as he hoped, and when he does he faces a decision that could shake his entire world around him, will he be able to sacrifice so much from his old life to become a Runner again?


Tales of Jericho:

The Choice

darkproject08

Prologue:

"Welcome home, Mr. Graves. It has been 'One thousand, three hundred, eighty-seven' days since your last visit." the computer chimed as Jericho's door creaked open, tripping the activation sensor in his apartment. Slowly the lights flickered to life, the yellow orange glow bathing the living room in a calming glow as Jericho let out a sigh. He ran his hand across his face, the stubble along his jawline stabbing his fingers as his hands went from his face slowly up to his hair. His fingers glided along his slick black hair as he leaned his head back. "I can't believe I'm about to do this" Jericho thought to himself as he looked towards a small computer terminal in the corner of the room beside his television. His mind began racing of thoughts from the past: His life before he went clean. The pain, the violence, the destruction. He thought to himself "Do I really want to go back to this?" Jericho thought for a moment, thinking about the life he lead that took him to where he was at now, his time working for the Megacorps, his "Normal" life, the people he knew…"No," he thought "No I can't go back to that now, it's too late for that…"

Jericho sat down in front of his computer, pressing the power button as he leaned back in his chair, struggling to find a comfortable position. He looked around the terminal, looking at several paper notes taped to the wall next to him. Most were gibberish but he noticed a small "To-do" list scribbled in on one of the sheets:

To-do:

Buy a new chair (Jericho chuckled as he read that.)

Check storage locker for "Equipment" (Jericho looked back towards the door, examining the large, solid black case he left sitting there)

Withdraw all funds from Zephyr Industries corporate pay account

Get SIN chip removed

Contact Edgar and inform him of my arrival

Jericho looked back over to the computer as the main screen finally popped up. "Username and Password?" scrolled across the screen as he looked down at his keyboard. He typed "Nightshade:Selena48" and held his finger over the enter key. He took a deep breath, and pressed the button. The screen went black for a brief moment as new text slowly scrolled across the screen. "Welcome to Shadowlands BBS, Nightshade." A grin gleamed across Jericho's face as he thought "Well, that was the easy part, time to check some stuff out…" His fingers glided across the keyboards as he began searching database after database, gathering information about the current state of affairs with other Runners, specifically his old teams. He got on the main board and posted a thread with the topic. "For Ed"

"Ed, I'm back in town. Just posting to let you know I'm here, you know how to get in touch with me.

-Nightshade"

Jericho sat in front of his computer, waiting patiently for a response. Minutes felt like hours as he pulled a pack of cigarettes from his jacket pocket, slowly opening the pack and putting a cigarette to his lips. He pulled out a small chrome lighter from his pocket and held it to the tip of the cigarette, taking a deep breath in as he lit it. Just as Jericho leaned back and exhaled his drag, letting smoke surround him, his computer chimed with a small prompt. "Call from: Unknown caller" showed up on his screen, along with two buttons: an accept and decline button. He smiled "Always mysterious, huh Ed?" He said to himself as he clicked the accept button. The screen flickered to an image of an older man with matted brown hair and an eye patch. His hair showed visible gray streaks, and his face showed signs of rough aging. The man cleared his throat as he looked at Jericho, laughing as he spoke. "Jericho Graves, back from the dead I see? I thought I never would see your sorry ass again. How long's it been? Two, three years?"

"Almost four, good to see you Ed, how's life been treatin' ya?"

"Oh you know, rough as always. Had to step out of the Runner game, but I still help out, set up a little shop here in Seattle for runners to call home." He smiled briefly, before his face grew more serious. "So, no doubt you're contacting me for a reason. Your bosses want you to put up a job or something?" Jericho took another drag from his cigarette as he leaned his head back, only leaning it forward as he exhaled out. "I'm done working for Zephyr...I'm done with it all. I-" Jericho hesitated as he spoke. "I want back in. I want to be a Runner again." Ed's eye widened as his eyebrows raised, tilting his head in curiosity. "Oh?" He said as he looked at Jericho through his monitor. "Hate to break it to you kid, but since you got that SIN card in you, your rep was shot to shit with the other Runners. Nobody will want to work with you, much less offer you a job. Hell I'm not even so trusting of you myself…"

"You don't need to worry about the SIN card." Jericho said as he turned around, revealing a scar along the back of his neck "Got it yanked out, I'm done with that life. I'm officially SINless again."

"Well, I wouldn't know about all that.." Ed laughed as he looked down. "But it still doesn't change the fact that you turned your back on the Runners. You didn't like how things were going with your life so you turned tail and ran off to one of your Megacorps. Nobody is likely to trust you now." Jericho's despaired frown turned to aggression as he stared directly at the screen.

"But YOU trust me Ed, I know you do. I've saved your ass more times than you can count. If it weren't for me you'd be blind instead of just having one eye! I'm asking you to give me a chance. You say you got a place for Runners? Well then let me in the network, I'll take whatever jobs I can to prove my worth to you all. If I have to start from the bottom again, I'll do it." He slams his hand on his table, an empty bottle of whiskey falling from the table and dropping on the ground. He looks down at the bottle as his anger fades almost as quickly as it came, turning immediately into sadness. "I can't go back...I have nowhere to go back to...please Ed, I'll do whatever it takes…"

Ed closed his eye and pinched the bridge of his nose, rubbing it slowly as he began to think. "Look, Jericho. You pissed off the other Runners BIG when you turned your back on us and left. Shadowlands was blowing up with threads all about 'Nightshade's betrayal' and 'Contract out on Nightshade'. It took a lot of willpower for me to NOT give them your real name, cause believe me, I was offered a lot of credits to get your name out there. Everything in my mind is telling me to not give you a chance…." Ed sighed heavily as he looked back up to his screen "But I also have a situation I could use someone's help with, so I'll make you a deal: You do me this favor, to prove your back on our side, and I'll speak to some of my contacts, try and get your name in decent enough standing to at least get you some work here and there." Jericho smiled slightly as he looked back up to the screen. "Thank you Ed...truly, thank you. What do you need?"

"Well you remember Tess, right?"

"Yeah, damn good with a blade, and very handy with a pistol." Jericho smiled as he thought back to the jobs he worked with her. The comm link grew silent for a moment, and his expression immediately turned into a frown.

"What happened?"

"She got picked up about three days ago by Lone Star. She did a run recently: Had to steal experiment notes from a new product being developed by Ares. Guess maybe they didn't take too kindly to that and struck back at her. I don't even know how they found out it was her, she said she wiped all the cameras. I've been posting up job offers for her retrieval, but nobody wants to go break into a Lone Star holding area just to rescue some Runner, no matter how much I offer. You wanna prove you're worth getting back in the game? Break into that holding area, bust Tess out, and get her back to the Ram's Head Inn, it's where I'm running my operation out of."

Jericho stroked his jawline as he thought carefully. "Ed...if it's been three days you know there is a good chance that she-"

"No." Ed said adamantly. "I KNOW she's alive. Tess is tough, she wouldn't let a thing like Lone Star stop her...Please Jericho. Do this for me and I'll spread the word that you're good for work, hell I'll even throw in a credit bonus for you to get you on your feet. Nobody else'll do it. If anyone can bust her out, it's you..."

Jericho leaned back as he pushed what was left of his cigarette into his ashtray. He knew going up against Lone Star was a suicide mission. He knew under normal circumstances, he would never take this job, no matter the history he shared with them. Everything in his instincts as a Runner was screaming "No" but he knew he didn't have a choice. If he turned down this job, he would never be able to become a Runner again. He would have to risk so much for such little reward, but he realized, he had no choice.

"Alright, send me the details. I'll draw up a plan and get going as soon as I can."

"Thank you, Jericho. I'll forward the details to your terminal. I won't be able to get anyone to work with you on this job, so you're gonna have to go in alone. But I know you'll be able to do it. If you need any equipment or ammo, let me know. I'll have it sent to you." Jericho nodded in agreement. "I'll see you at the Ram's Head with Tess. Oh, and Jericho?"

"Yes?"

"Do you still have your datajack implant?"

He ran his hand back past his hair along his left temple, feeling the cybernetics and metal plating along the side of his head. "Yeah, of course."

"Good, you're gonna need it for this…Welcome back, Nightshade."


End file.
